


First Christmas (WAdvent 2020 Day #7)

by gardnerhill



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Christmas, First Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Watson's Woes WAdvent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27944948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: Takes place during my storyThe Education of Geoffrey Lestrade.
Relationships: Lestrade/John Watson
Kudos: 13





	First Christmas (WAdvent 2020 Day #7)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the December 2020 Watson's Woes.

My usual Christmas Day isn't a patch on old Mr. Dickens'. A few chocolates with my breakfast tea, off to the station as usual, have a glass with the lads sharing the bachelor watch with me, and home to a roast fowl and a carefully-hoarded expensive cigar afterward.

But the year was 1891, and I had a lover – a real one and not some nameless bloke I shagged in a dockside pub, a lover that was also a long-time friend. That lover was in no mood for a festive holiday that year, and that suited me just fine.

I'd told John up front. "I work. Crime doesn't stop for the day so coppers don't either."

He'd laughed a little. "People don't stop needing a doctor on Christmas Day either, Geoffrey. I'll ask Mrs. Beddowes to put a bit of holly on our capon, and we can raise a glass at supper."

So that's what we did. After breakfasting together (and sharing the chocs), John headed to his practise and I went to the station.

I hoped John wouldn't be embarrassed about the gift. Set me back a good bit, getting an early printing of Mr. Kipling's soldier poems. But I knew it would be perfect for John and that's all I thought – one of the few times in my life I didn't look at the cost of something before I'd set my head to having it. John could have bought it without a thought – the late Mr. Holmes had left him a small fortune, still a tender subject with the poor man – but I had to keep a sharper eye on my shillings.

I'd worried for nothing. At supper (presided over indeed by a holly-bedecked capon, over which we toasted the day and solemnly remembered absent friends), John exclaimed in pure happiness when he unwrapped the book. "I was going to buy this next year – you got a jump on the publishers!"

As for my gift – a whole bloody box of those expensive Havanas – well, that sod came the closest to making me tear up since I was a lad.


End file.
